"Work, responsibility, authority" - Sarkozy woos right-wing voters

Feb 11, 2012, 11:10 GMT

Paris - 'Work, responsibility, authority, I identify more than ever with this triptych,' French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Le Figaro magazine in an interview Saturday, setting out the themes of his upcoming re-election campaign.

In the nine-page interview, Sarkozy reveals elements of a solidly right-wing campaign, including controversial proposals for referendums on unemployment benefits and immigration.

Sarkozy proposes to review the welfare system, so that jobseekers would have to complete a training course proposed by the state in order to receive unemployment benefit.

At the end of the course, the jobseeker would be obliged to accept the first job offer corresponding to his profile, or forfeit his benefits.

The proposal has drawn fierce criticism from trade unions and opposition parties, who have accused Sarkozy of portraying the country's 4.8 million unemployed as welfare spongers.

Sarkozy threatened to go over the leaders of the unions by putting the proposal to the French people in a referendum - after April's presidential election.

'I think the best way to overcome the blockages in our society is to directly address the French people,' he said.

The interview with Le Figaro comes as Sarkozy prepares to formally announce a bid for re-election in two-stage April-May polls.

With two months to the first round of voting on April 22, opinion polls put him in second place, behind Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande and ahead of far-right National Front leader Marine le Pen.

In 2007, Sarkozy took votes from the National Front by campaigning heavily on immigration and security.

In Saturday's interview, he returned to those themes, which had taken a back seat to the economy in this election.

He took credit for stepping up deportations of illegal immigrants to 33,000, which was more than three times the average annual deportation rate under the last Socialist government.

He also proposed to make it harder for immigrants who marry French people to obtain French residency, said he would consider a referendum to change constitutional guarantees on immigrants' rights and restated his opposition to gay marriage.

Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry accused Sarkozy of trying to drive a wedge through French society.

'Once again, he's trying to divide the French rather than bring them together,' she said.